


Space Love

by psychophoenix



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Astronaut AU, Cute, Homesickness, M/M, Slight Humor, Slight fluff, there's romance if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25839004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychophoenix/pseuds/psychophoenix
Summary: You can't fall in love in microgravity.Or can you?
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Kudos: 9





	Space Love

> _"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." - Albert Einstein_

Kim Jongin maneuvers his way to look at Earth through one of the windows of the International Space Station. Being a Mission Specialist sent on one of NASA’s medical experiments has meant being far away from his family and friends for a quarter of a year now. He sighs and notes that it is currently the 14th of February back of Earth, and the fact that people were celebrating it with their loved ones back home is enough to send a pang of homesickness through his heart.

“You can’t fall in love in microgravity.”

Jongin glances up to see who had spoken up. He is surprised to find out that the statement had come from none other than the crew’s resident stoic and Educator Mission Specialist, Do Kyungsoo.

Jongin stares at his fellow Korean crewmate for a while, trying to decipher if he had just witnessed the other joke for the first time in their three-month stay in space, or if Kyungsoo is just as cynical as he appears.

Kyungsoo’s lip twitches and the spell is broken.

“You were joking,” Jongin says, dumbfounded.

Kyungsoo shrugs, the movement looking strange on his usually composed and confident frame. “Of course. Pun intended. Did you really think I was incapable of it?” he asks, a playful glint in his eyes.

“I-uh, no. Uh. I just, it’s just-.” Jongin flounders for an answer that the other would not find offensive, considering that he didn’t want to ruin his chances of ever becoming close to him.

Kyungsoo chuckles, another first since the mission started. He pushes off a wall to get closer to the window Jongin is looking out of and purses his lips in amusement.

“Missing home?” he asks quietly, the playfulness once again gone from his tone.

Jongin looks out of the window before nodding slowly. “It’s pretty inevitable, don’t you think?”

“I wouldn’t know, there’s really no one back there for me. The station is just as much of a home as Earth was.” Kyungsoo answers forthrightly, glancing back at Jongin.

Jongin is stumped, as he cannot imagine not having anyone of any importance, of not having a home back on Earth.

“Of course, I had a house, a structure that half-assed passed off as home,” Kyungsoo adds, seemingly reading his mind. “And I had my students. Those kids.” He smiles and fondly shakes his head. Jongin briefly remembers that the other was a teacher before joining the crew, hence his position.

“You taught grade school students, right?” He asks, recalling the detail from the news reports that another Korean was going to join the crew for the mission, a teacher from Goyang City, North of Seoul.

Kyungsoo nods. “Hyperactive little twerps. I loved every moment of it.”

Jongin admires the affection that flashes through Kyungsoo’s expression when he recalls his students. “So, what made you decide to leave?”

Kyungsoo raises his brows at Jongin, almost as if to teasingly ask him about crossing the borders of small talk, but instead, he answers, “I needed space, I guess.”

There is a moment of awkward silence as Jongin processes the statement.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” He says in between bouts of laughter, voice muffled by his hands covering his mouth. “You’re hilarious.”

“Thanks.” Kyungsoo gives a small smile. “I try.”

“No, seriously, why have we never talked before aside from the work-related babble?” Jongin asks, grabbing onto a ledge so as not to float away too far from his companion.

Kyungsoo looks back down at Earth and gives a noncommittal hum. “Do you miss it?” he asks instead, after a while. “Korea?”

“All the time.” Jongin laments, craning his neck to get a glimpse of the country in vain because they were currently facing a considerable part of America, while Kyungsoo smirks at his antics. “I had to get used to the American taste, you know? It wasn’t like I could live off on just the kimchi.” He finishes, waving his arms around in emphasis.

Kyungsoo shoots him a mock affronted look. “You can’t mock the kimchi! Do you know how much effort went into developing it to make it space-friendly?”

Jongin blinks before opening his mouth and guffawing in surprise at the teacher joking once again. “Three research institutes, several years of experiments, and over a million dollars, yes.” He laughs. “Seems almost absurd, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t mock the kimchi.” Kyungsoo simply replies once more, this time in Korean, another smile tugging up the corner of his lips.

Jongin couldn’t help but smile back, the sound of his mother tongue almost unfamiliar after years of being with mostly Western NASA members. When he’d heard of Kyungsoo joining the team, he had rather hoped that they would become fast friends. However, it soon became apparent that Kyungsoo wasn’t going to become fast friends with anyone with his reclusive nature.

Which is why Jongin is wondering what made the other approach him oh so suddenly. “What made you talk to me, after all this time?” He asks silently in Korean, a small comfort to both of them to be speaking in their native tongue.

Kyungsoo licks his lips slowly as he contemplates before answering. “Because… because you felt like home.” And with that, he puts a hand on Jongin’s arm to use him as leverage to push off and float away towards the door.

Jongin is speechless.

“Hey, Jongin,” Kyungsoo calls out just before he leaves.

Jongin looks up and sees Kyungsoo’s amused smile.

“I guess you _can_ fall in love in microgravity. Happy Valentine’s Day.” And with that, he gives a small wave and leaves a gaping Jongin staring after him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Astronaut!AU prompt was given by lastrainhome from AFF
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @psycho_phoenix


End file.
